Innehållsförteckning för No 249 September 2017 från NZ Performance Car

We ran an interview last issue with Rod Harvey about his amazing feat a month or so back. He and crew chief Terry Bowden finally achieved the fivesecond pass they had been chasing for some time in the Yuasa Celica. It’s an achievement for which all involved deserve to receive a massive amount of kudos — it is, quite possibly, the biggest single motorsport achievement for any Kiwi team so far this year. While they may have missed the boat in becoming the world’s first five-second import, they were first in our neck of the woods. At the time of writing, their PB speed is 0.3 of mph slower and their PB ET is 0.13 of a second behind EKannoo. Getting to this point hasn’t been easy — in fact,…

The MCA Suspension ‘Hammerhead’ S13 has gone under the knife again in preparation for the upcoming World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) in Sydney, Australia. Having previously been driven by our own Kiwi boy Shane Van Gisbergen, the S13 was a force to be reckoned with at last year’s event with returning driver Tim Slade behind the wheel. Slade dominated the Pro category all weekend and eclipsed the overall WTAC record set by Garth Walden in the Tilton Interiors Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX the year prior, managing to clock up a time of 1min 22.19s — over 1.5 seconds faster than Walden’s time of 1min 23.77s. Josh Cootes, son of rallying legend and MCA founder Murray Cootes, said that the team is looking to make a number of changes ahead of…

The brand responsible for kick-starting the high-fidelity car-stereo market in the US, Kicker Audio, is now available in New Zealand. From humble beginnings in a small garage in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the brand has grown into a major audio designer and manufacturer that produces lines praised by hardcore audiophiles. “Kicker got its name from inventing the kicker-style speakers that were built into the parcel shelf of cars, or the rear of a pick-up trucks, back in 1980 — it was the first full-frequency-range speaker box designed specifically for cars and trucks, and they really kicked out the bass,” says Tim Paterson, national sales manager for Griffiths Equipment, which has been announced as the New Zealand distributor. “Today, Kicker is more than about bass; its amplifiers and speakers produce some of the…

The New Zealand Rotary Racing Enthusiasts (RRE) has announced a new single-day format for racing this coming season that will see the rotary-engine-only class run in conjunction with the Auckland Car Club. “We surveyed our racers, and they all wanted better value for money racing that we just weren’t getting in the two-day events. We will get at least three races per event, and, being oneday format, it’s ‘in and out’, giving members more time for other things in life,” stated club president Julius Coffey. The Auckland Car Club season will kick off on September 2 and cover all North Island tracks where the RRE is hoping to have grids of 25+ lined up. The class is a great entry-level motorsport for those wanting to get into racing, with the…

Pause for a moment, and reminisce about your younger days watching potato-quality videos of wild Japanese cars hacking up the mountain passes and sending rows of sparks down the infamous Meihan Sportsland walls with their wings. Without a doubt, you would have seen one driver who would push that little bit harder, further, and faster. His name has become separated from those of the mere mortals of drifting, and anyone who has ever had even the faintest interest in driving sideways should recognize it — yep, we’re talking about Naoki Nakamura. Hailing from Nara Prefecture, Japan, Nakamura-san is known as the fearless leader of Team Burst (now renounced) and, in more recent years, Pink Style, and the proprietor of drift car–building shop N-Style, while simultaneously revered for his incredibly aggressive,…

Warning: incoming misty-eyed, nostalgic, old-man rant about ‘back in my day’. Well, not quite, but standing in front of this crispy white Silvia, chatting away to owner Andy Gooding and picking over the finer details does bring on in me a bit of an epiphany. Yeah, yeah, we’re all aware the ‘scene’ has changed for one reason or another — everyone is bemoaning something, right? The scene is constantly evolving, but, regardless, it seems to be an innate human tendency to gravitate towards the nostalgic. If you’re a bit of an old codger, cast your mind back over 15 years to simpler times. The ‘import’ car community had only recently transcended its infancy, ditching the nappies for a pair of pull-ups, and was heading towards the 2000s with a kicking,…

Cast your mind back to the cover car of Issue No. 224, and you’ll remember the McIntyre S14 we dubbed the ‘Stray Bullet’. Built by father-and-son duo Mark Snr and Mark McIntyre, the 2JZ-powered Silvia was put together with circuit racing and time attack as the focus, with Mark Jnr — aka ‘Macca’ — to handle the driving duties. In its first iteration, the S14 was making some serious boogie, with a dry-sumped 500kW 2JZ backed by a Tremec TKO 600 with fairly basic suspension modifications. However, stage two, which is underway, will see the S14 go from a more serious street car–based chassis to a fully fledged race machine in S14 clothing. They’re taking what they learned in their very successful rookie season of GTRNZ, when Macca earned Rookie…

NAME: PETREA ‘PEACH’ ARDAGH // AGE: 26 LOCATION: HAMILTON // OCCUPATION: SOLICITOR NZ Performance Car : Hi, Peach. Tell us how you got into cars and racing. I have been fascinated by all things mechanical from a young age, helped along in part by my dad, and my uncle Matt, who used to build Land Cruisers in his garage while I watched and ‘helped’ as much as little girl could. I went to an all-girls school in Christchurch where absolutely nobody could understand my obsession with cars, and it wasn’t until university that I was able to get more into it — eventually becoming president of the University of Canterbury Motorsport Society (Motosoc). Now I compete in NZ Superlap. It’s always good to have the girls involved. What led to…

NZ Performance Car : Hi, Clint. Is this your first rotang-powered car? Clint: Hey, mate. Yeah, sure is. I’ve owned it for roughly six years now — there have been plenty of ups and downs throughout those years, though. When aren’t there ups and downs with a project car? What’s been the go? I never really looked at buying an RX-7, because you always hear that they are unreliable, etc., but my brother, Nicholas Healy, took me for a late-night blast in his FC, spitting flames in the rear view — that had me hooked. My work mate Stefan [who now owns the ‘FURSTY’ 808] would always say to me, “Get a rotor, mate” and, “You bought a rotor yet?” This was on Trade Me pretty much standard with receipts…

The dates for the upcoming 2017/’18 season of the NZ Superlap Series have been announced, and online entries have now opened up. Like previous seasons, Superlap will run alongside the Historic Racing Club (HRC) season of events, with five stops on the calendar kicking off at Hampton Downs on November 25. It will then work its way through the North Island, with stops at Manfeild, two at Taupo, and finishing back at Hampton. With a new season comes new rules, although this year, changes are minimal and only apply to the Street Class — to ensure that the cars remain just that. The three changes mean that cars must have operational headlights (low beam and high beam), both driver and passenger seats, and a factory-style dashboard and door cards. Rules…

What may be the longest-awaited engine combination in D1NZ is nearing completion in the Manawatu at Hartley Engines and Motorsport. The Toyota-based V12 of Jaron Olivecrona is now at the final assembly stages, with the very long list of bespoke machine work having been completed. The work involved CNC-ported heads, custom ground cams, 48 custom 3.5mm oversized valves, custom machined pistons to achieve a 13.5:1 compression ratio, and all the other little billet brackets that will adorn the six-litre monster. One of the bigger jobs was the inlet manifolds, with each bank carved from an 18kg block of alloy down to a 2.5kg manifold, which will house two banks of 45mm throttle bodies and a custom filter. Oiling will come from a four-stage Peterson drysump pump, and the ignition side…

Last issue, we reported on Rod Harvey and the Yuasa Celica breaking into that holy-grail fivesecond bracket with a 5.90. In that piece, we touched on the fact that the car still had plenty in it. Rod and the New Zealand–based team returned to Queensland for its only test ahead of the August Jamboree. Despite the cold track, the team was able to prove that the five was no fluke, running 253.4mph, only 0.3mph slower than EKanoo’s fastest of 253.1mph. “We couldn’t really lay into the track on the startline, as the temp just wasn’t there. But, with the wastegate issue we had at the Winters fixed, we really had some mph, even after getting off early, as it was moving around so much.” Rod continued; “She is f*cking flying…

THE MODENA SIX-SPEED SEQUENTIAL IS FITTED WITH A STRAIN GAUGE TO ALLOW FOR FLAT SHIFTING HAVING WITNESSED THE DANGERS OF MOTOR SPORT FIRST-HAND, BRADY SAYS SAFETY WAS A NO-COMPROMISE SITUATION. THE RACETECH 119 HEAD-RESTRAINT SET IS TIED INTO THE ROLL CAGE, AND A FULL LIFELINE FIRE-SUPPRESSION SYSTEM IS ONLY ONE TOGGLE PULL AWAY The WRX STi is not a model we’d usually file under the sleeper umbrella. It is, after all, a performance car by name, by nature, and by virtue, but what you’ll come to realize over the coming pages is that there are WRXs, and then there is Brady Wild’s 2014 STi. This car is a werewolf in wolf’s clothing, a 511kW track-day warrior so unassuming that most people don’t even notice it when Brady shows up to…

Three words: believe the hype. The release of the 2017 Honda Civic Type R (FK8) has stirred things up something proper among purists and non-Honda fans alike. This is partly due to the fact that there is a snail hanging off the side of the K20 heart that helps it to produce a healthy 228kW, and partly because it set a 7m 43.8s Nürburgring lap time to claim the title of world’s fastest production front-wheel-drive. But perhaps the biggest talking point here is that this is the first generation to be sold new on our shores. Naturally, this is a pretty big deal for Honda New Zealand, and the example you see before you is the only FK8 in the country until first orders start to appear in September —…

Such is the popularity of the event held on Lord March’s estate in Chichester, England, that organizers had to add an extra day to the proceedings to satisfy the hordes of spectators. The theme for 2017 was ‘Motorsport’s Game-Changers’, which couldn’t have been more fitting, as the festival itself is exactly that: a game-changer in the world of automotive events. Where else could you find 17 Bugatti Veyrons parked in the spectator carpark? The spectrum of automotive culture that this event covers is amazing. At this year’s event, nestled in the makeshift pits sat a raft of Ayrton Senna’s Formula 1 (F1) machines, Kamaz Dakar trucks, Aston Martin Vulcan GT race cars, and Jaguar’s XJR12D. Only Goodwood has the power to pull such influential cars and the official support of…

If you tinker around with anything automotive, at some stage, you’ll come across a damaged bolt thread. It’s one of those things that you never pay any attention to until you can’t get it in the hole or wind a nut over it, or perhaps you tried to remove a bolt and try to put it back in, which may have caused premature wear It’s a moment that always seems to pop up when you’re rushing to finish off that last piece, and the spare-bits drawer doesn’t turn up with any luck. Maybe it’s one of those oddballs that isn’t a simple off-the-shelf purchase. So, what do you do now? Unless you’ve badly cooked the thread, it can usually be repaired with a few backyard tricks, especially if it’s only…

With hundreds of different products thrust under your nose on a daily basis, we don’t blame you if you feel a little dubious when a new product hits the market, especially when you’re supposed to trust it for use on your pride and joy. Luckily, we’re here to put these products through a rigorous ‘brofessional’ test, so that you can make a more informed choice when you’re staring at the shelf in your local. This month’s product is Narva’s latest offering in high-performance headlight bulbs, its Platinum Plus 130. The vehicle we fitted with the bulbs was an older E53 BMW X5 pre facelift, as the old yellow H7s bulbs it ran really dated the tow car’s looks at night. Fitting a new set of bulbs to any vehicle is…

GET YOUR DAILY NEWS FIX ONLINE: themotorhood.com We’ve long enjoyed the spoils of a local drifting series and watched as other series grew in their own localities, but one thing has always stood true: the international motorsport-governing organization — the FIA — has never engaged with drifting as a serious motorsport, until now, that is. At the time of writing, the FIA has just announced the formation of the discipline’s first international competition: the FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup, which is set to take place from September 30 to October 1 in Japan — where better to host such an event than the birthplace of drifting? Sunpros, the D1GP host since 2001, will facilitate the competition. FIA President Jean Todt said, “This is the beginning of a very important category for…

In 2016, Keiichi Tsuchiya made his first trip to the WTAC at Sydney Motorsport Park and seemingly loved the event — so much so that he vowed to return in 2017 with “something special”. True to his word, Tsuchiya has announced that he is returning to WTAC for 2017 and the car he’s bringing with him is arguably one of the world’s more famous AEs: his Hot Version N2 Battle AE86 — a car he dominated in. Built by the late Sakurai-san from Technocraft, no one could touch the combination of Tsuchiya and this N2 in its day, and it will undoubtedly turn a quick lap around Sydney Motorsport Park in October. We’re told that there is another announcement to come surrounding Keiichi Tsuchiya, so keep your eyes peeled for…

Auckland-based Dodson Motorsport has a long history of overachieving. Its clutch and gear sets have become synonymous with world records, including the hotly contested R35 drag record currently held by the AMS Performance–built Alpha 20 of Gidi Chamdi with a 6.93s at 196mph. Dodson and AMS have a long-running technical partnership that has seen their clutch and gear sets used in all Alpha builds, and culminated in Alpha 20 becoming the first four-wheel drive and R35 to run a six-second pass. The GT-R sees power levels in excess of 2500hp (1864kW) and uses Dodson’s 13-plate Pro Max clutch kit and Extreme Duty gear set, along with front-wheel drive and internal components. The other big record claimed this year saw Dodson’s technical partner, Underground Racing, earn the world standing-half-mile record, again…

There’s an unspoken understanding that the GT-R is the king of fast street-car tin. Roll up anywhere behind the wheel of one, and people automatically assume that you’re there to do business — fast-as-hell kind of business. But, when ST Hi-tec turned up to the local timeattack series, NZ Superlap, two years ago with its own R35 GTR, nobody could have predicted quite how fast it would actually become, especially considering how sedate the car appeared at first glance. It started life as a stockbodied and -engined example, but this was never going to be a story of gradual increases in power, as the team behind the build at ST had a very clear goal in mind: to be the fastest. “We waited so long for the release of the…

Without a doubt, one of the most overused phrases we hear is the one we’ve just inserted in the byline: ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it too’. It’s often used in reference to those in the car world who try to achieve polar-opposite objectives, with perfection in both areas. The reality is that getting a car working well in more than one discipline is usually a game of tug-of-war that’s damn-near impossible to win. You will always end up having to sacrifice performance in one area to pander to the other — it’s just how it goes. But, just like how any rule is made to be broken, there are always those that manage to defy these predictions. The AE86 you see before you displays how its owner…

Packing your bags, booking a ticket, and jumping on a plane to another country is always exciting, especially when your main objective is to experience a local car culture. While we might be led to believe that the internet is an all-seeing eye that shows us any- and everything worth laying our eyes on, the reality is that tons of cars slip through the so-called World Wide Web. On a recent trip to Melbourne, we left not a stone unturned nor garage door shut in our quest to find something fresh, and, over the next few issues, we will continue to roll out our finds. This time around, we take a look at Adem Tahiri’s 13B turbo RX-3 coupe. TO AVOID CUTTING THE RADIATOR SUPPORT PANEL, THE PWR INTERCOOLER FEEDS…

NAME: JAMES WILKINSON // AGE: 37 LOCATION: NELSON // OCCUPATION: IMPORTER AT WS IMPORTS NZ Performance Car: Hi, James. You’ve owned and imported a lot of cars through your business. What drew you to the Hakosuka as a personal car? James: Hey, NZ Performance Car. My dream car has always been the Hako. I’ve owned and driven a lot of stuff since I started importing cars four years ago, but had never got my hands on a Hako. I had been trying to get my hands on one, then this popped up one day and I snapped it up. Sweet choice, too. What kind of state was it in when it got here? It looked like it was in quite bad shape, to be honest, so I had expected the worst, but,…

2017 CHROME EXPRESSION SESSION HAMPTON DOWNS MOTORSPORT PARK Anyone who has attended previous Chrome Expression Sessions will know what a banger of an event it is — packed to the rafters with modified machinery of all calibres and disciplines — and things don’t show any sign of slowing down this year. Chrome is the place where you can get your mates four-up (where applicable — I see you, MX-5 guys), blast a copy of your best Notorious B.I.G. CD, and cut lap after lap at Hampton Downs. We really don’t need to hype it up any more than that — you should know by now that it’s not to be missed. Spaces sell out quickly, so grab yours now at chromenz.co.nz. AUGUST 5-6 NZ BURNOUT CHAMPIONSHIP MASTERTON MOTORPLEX / BRUCE…